Tradie cleared of murder charges over death of mafia lawyer Joe Acquaro

A murder charge laid against a tradesman suspected of shooting mafia lawyer Joseph “Pino” Acquaro has been dropped after years of legal challenges.

Murder charges against Vincenzo Crupi have been dropped. Picture: Nicole Garmston

A murder charge laid against a tradesman suspected of shooting mafia lawyer Joseph “Pino” Acquaro has been dropped.

Victoria Police homicide detectives charged Vincenzo Crupi over the March 2016 street ambush of Mr Acquaro outside his Gelobar cafe in Brunswick East two years after the murder.

But the Office of Public Prosecutions withdrew the charges against Mr Crupi in the Supreme Court on Friday morning after years of legal challenges.

Now aged in his mid-70s, Mr Crupi spent three years on remand until he was granted bail in 2021.

Joe Acquaro was a criminal lawyer who represented mafia and gangland clients.

Mr Acquaro, a criminal lawyer who represented mafia and gangland clients, was assessed by Victoria Police to become an informer in 2008 and 2014 prior to his death.

Mr Crupi was set to stand trial in 2019, but the case was delayed by multipile legal challenges over revealing police sources.

Victoria Police appealed to the High Court to protect the identity of an informer — known as “Informer Z”.

Police argued the human source would have been at “real risk of death” if the source’s identity was revealed.

The challenge came after the Supreme Court ordered police to hand over documents to Mr Crupi which were “likely to be of substantial assistance to the defence in the conduct of their case”.

Mr Crupi, who did odd jobs at the Gelobar, spoke to the Herald Sun in the weeks before he was charged with Mr Acquaro’s murder, has denied any involvement in the killing.

Before his death Mr Acquaro was a gangland lawyer who also mixed in mafia circles.